Harlem Renaissance Poems and Trifles: Literary Analysis

Claude McKay's 'If We Must Die': Protest and the Sonnet Form

Many critics regard Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" as a formative work in the development of the Harlem Renaissance — the period between roughly 1920 and 1930 during which writers and artists in Harlem responded to aspects of contemporary society, including racial disharmony and prejudice. Written in 1919, the poem is essentially a strong protest against the passive acceptance of racial inequality and subjugation in America. As one study notes, the poem was "originally written about the race riots in Harlem in 1919, and it was a call to all African American men that it was time for them to stand up for their rights" (Moore).

The poet employs a number of literary techniques — including metaphor, rhyme, and imagery — to emphasize the central theme. What stands out most, however, is McKay's use of the sonnet form and structure to convey meaning.

Specifically, the poem draws on the characteristics of the Shakespearean sonnet. Its rhyme scheme is ababcdcdefefgg and it is end-rhymed. The poem consists of the conventional fourteen lines divided into three quatrains and a final couplet.

This formal choice carries several implications. First, the structured rhyme scheme emphasizes the poem's central ideas and themes. These ideas are carried by an extended metaphor that compares the lives of oppressed Black people to those of animals — a condition the poet absolutely refuses to accept. In the first quatrain, for example, the rhyme scheme draws attention to the words "hogs" and "dogs":

If we must die — let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

This metaphor likens people to pigs pursued by the "dogs" of prejudice and discrimination. The poem's speaker finds such subjugation utterly intolerable, expressing the view that death is preferable to living under it.

The sonnet form also enables repetition through the rhyme scheme, which McKay uses to reinforce his central message — most notably in the repeated phrase "If we must die" and the declaration "If we must die — oh, let us nobly die."

A defining feature of the Shakespearean sonnet is the rhyming couplet that closes the poem, traditionally used to summarize and stress the essential themes. Here, the closing couplet powerfully expresses the resentment and determination that runs throughout the entire poem:

Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

This couplet summarizes the theme of rebellion and protest against extreme injustice, and underscores the poet's resolve to resist the forces that would destroy his people.

Art, Music, and the Human Spirit in McKay and Hughes

Both "The Harlem Dancer" by Claude McKay and "The Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes offer insight into the capacity of the human spirit to endure and transcend the harsh and unpredictable conditions of life. Both poems focus on the way that art — particularly music and dance — expresses the human condition and, in a sense, rises above existential suffering.

In "The Harlem Dancer," McKay creates images of a woman dancing and, in her act of dancing and singing, generating a sense of human joy that both reflects and surpasses suffering. Her exquisite voice is compared to the "sound of blended flutes" (lines 5–6). Yet the poet also makes clear that her artistry and beauty have been acquired at great cost: she has "grown lovelier for passing through a storm" (line 12). This speaks to the idea that great art is often born of great suffering. We are further reminded that this suffering continues in the image of her "falsely-smiling face" (line 19). Her art creates joy, yet she must still inhabit the mundane world of everyday strife.

A similar concern with worldly strife appears in "The Weary Blues." Here the art form is music — specifically the blues — which echoes the suffering, problems, and anxieties of human existence. The sense of weariness and trouble is emphasized through repetition and the refrain "O Blues!" The mental and emotional state of the blues player is vividly rendered in the poem's language, including the way the musician sways to his own music.

Together, both poems demonstrate how art forms such as music and dance can give voice to the deepest feelings of the human soul. Both also suggest that art offers a means of transcending — though not escaping — the reality of the human condition.

The central protagonist in Susan Glaspell's play Trifles is prosecutor George Henderson, who investigates the murder of John Hassock by his wife, Margaret. The play is based on a real-life murder case that took place in Indianola, Iowa, in which a wife was accused of killing her husband with an axe. Alongside Henderson, however, several other characters add important depth to the drama — most notably the female characters: Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, and Mrs. Hale.

A central theme of the play is the difference between the sexes and the way that women's roles and perspectives are routinely dismissed as mere "trifles" from the male point of view. Yet those seemingly trivial details of a woman's domestic life carry powerful symbolic weight throughout the play.

Conclusion

Glaspell, S. Trifles. 1916. Web. 27 April 2012. (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10623/10623-h/10623-h.htm)

Hughes, L. The Weary Blues. Web. 27 April 2012. (http://cai.ucdavis.edu/uccp/workingweary.html)